On July 19, the House passed the Labor, Health and Human Services and Education (Labor-HHS) spending bill, setting funding levels for FY 2008, by a vote of 276-140 – falling several votes short of a veto-proof majority. President Bush has threatened to veto bills with funding levels higher than what he requested, and the House's Labor-HHS bill includes $10 billion beyond the President's request. Time will tell as to whether the President will actually veto a bill funding education and health care. During floor consideration of the Labor-HHS bill on July 17, an amendment offered by Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) to increase funding for Part D (Title IV) by $3.5 million was approved by voice vote, bringing total funding to $75.3 million. Click here to watch Representative Wasserman Schultz introduce her amendment, and here to read AIDS Alliance's press release.
Previously, Part D (Title IV) was flat-funded by the House Appropriations Committee at $71.8 million, despite objections by several committee members, including Representative Wasserman Schultz. The House bill, overall, provides more than $100 million in additional resources for the Ryan White CARE Act. Part A (Title I) received a $32 million increase, Part B (Title II) a $44 million increase and Part C (Title III) a $17 million increase; AETCs and Dental programs were flat-funded. Report language accompanying the bill directs the increase to Part A (Title I) to fund supplemental grants to cities that received significant cuts in formula funding in FY 2007.
In the Senate, the Labor-HHS Appropriations Subcommittee on June 19 (and the full Appropriations Committee on June 21) approved a $33 million increase for the Ryan White CARE Act -- $3.2 million of that increase for HIV services for women and children through Part D (Title IV). The Senate bill also includes a $30.4 million increase to Part B (Title II) -- $5 million for the base and $25.4 million to ADAP. All other parts of Ryan White were flat-funded at their FY 2007 levels. The Senate may consider their Labor-HHS bill when it returns from recess in September, however, given the timing and the number of outstanding appropriations bills, those on and off the Hill suspect Labor-HHS will be on the Senate floor as part of a larger omnibus appropriations package. With a veto threat looming, it may take many more months before the funding levels for FY 2008 are finalized. Given increases to Part D (Title IV) in both the House and Senate bills, AIDS advocates are advocating that a Part D (Title IV) funding increase prevail in the final bill adopted for FY 2008. This would mark the first funding increase for Part D (Title IV) in five years!
In other appropriations news, the Community-Based Abstinence Education (CBAE) account saw a $28 million increase in the House, and a $28 million cut by Senate Appropriators. This account, administered by the Administration for Children and Families, funds a majority of the abstinence-only-until-marriage programs. The National Institutes of Health funding increased $1 billion in the Senate and $750 million in the House. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) division of HIV Prevention received a $17.5 million increase in the House for HIV testing and surveillance and their FY 07 baseline was increased by $45 million to account for a new testing initiative for African Americans. Funding was blocked for the Early Diagnosis Grant Program that Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) negotiated into the Ryan White reauthorization last year. This program would carve out prevention resources from existing funding to set aside for grants to states that implement opt-out testing for pregnant women and mandatory testing of newborns, or opt-out testing in STD clinics and drug treatment centers. No state appears to qualify. The Senate provided no increase to the CDC's prevention budget for FY 08, but did increase their baseline FY 07 number by $45 million to account for the new testing initiative for African Americans and for the Early Diagnosis Grant Program, but only if states qualify for the funding.
